


Gold Dust

by kissuponthelips



Series: Gold Dust [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Biblical References, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family Drama, Female Character of Color, Found Family, Friendship, Hallucinations, Maybe - Freeform, Prophetic Visions, Slow Burn, Slytherins Being Slytherins, daphne/mara/theo: name a better trio, hopefully, like... really slow...., not too overly religious though if thats not your thing, original female uses religion as a way to cope, the slytherin girls.... theyre not white, we see through dumbledore's shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-08 06:00:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14098794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissuponthelips/pseuds/kissuponthelips
Summary: They come and they go were the five words Mara Prescott always remembered to say when her parents dropped her off at St. Mungo's for her monthly check-up. It wasn't a lie nor an omission, but how else would you explain chronic headaches and hallucinations about certain dark overlords to those who wouldn't understand?





	Gold Dust

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! 
> 
> I'm Stephanie and this is my first fic on AO3! I'm really nervous because I don't know if Gold Dust fits the top-tier land that is AO3, but I have worked incredibly hard on this fic and have planned it out to a T. Mara's story is a story that I have wanted to tell since 2015 and since I recently got back into HP, I decided to publish this and let go of my fears! This first chapter is quite short as this is my prologue, but I promise every chapter from here on out will be much longer! Everything in this fic is in the tags and if you have any questions, please PM me or leave me comments! 
> 
> I hope you all decide to keep reading and leave comments as I appreciate constructive criticism!!
> 
> Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy!! :)

* * *

❝ **THE LORD IS WITH ME. I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT CAN MERE MORTALS DO TO ME?** ❞

* * *

 

They come and they go were the five words Mara Prescott always remembered to say when her parents chucked her off at St. Mungo's for her monthly check-up. It wasn't a lie and she wasn't exactly omitting the truth to anyone, but how else would you explain chronic headaches and hallucinations to people who worked at a place that doubled as a psychiatric ward?

      The hallucinations began at the end of Mara's first year at Hogwarts and as a young girl who barely understood the dangers and judgement that came from the Wizarding World for appearing as anything but abnormal, she kept quiet. Nobody had to know that she hallucinated the blood-red words that appeared on the wall that next Halloween before they happened and nobody had to know that she hallucinated an attractive young man watching her and another young boy by the name of Harry Potter. Nobody had to know that while Harry Potter's scar hurt because of one dark overlord, Mara Prescott's mind was reciting Psalm 118:6 as she closed her eyes and tried to forget about the things her mind made her see.

      The hallucinations began getting worse towards fourth year and Mara found herself growing into her namesake, growing more and more bitter as every day passed and soon enough, Mara had seen the hallucination that would soon leave the Wizarding World tilted on it's axis; the death of Cedric Diggory. It hadn't happened like she expected; she hadn't seen it  _happen_  and as she walked into the girl's lavatory that day, she had the audacity to believe that it would be a good day and that for the first time in a long time, her mind would grant her peace.

      And then she turned around.

      Cedric Diggory's body was laying at the foot of the stall. His glazed-over eyes staring at her as his hand stretched out, getting ready t― and she screamed. She screamed as loud as her lungs could take and when they couldn't take anymore, she began sobbing, gasping for breath as Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and groups of students ran in, trying to find the pin-point for her screaming. And when they couldn't and Dumbledore started questioning her, she yelled even louder and began pointing, sobbing as they couldn't believe her.  **"PLEASE TELL ME YOU SEE IT. IT'S RIGHT THERE. IT'S NOT JUST ME!"**

      One last word came out of her mouth in the form of a whisper, "Please."

      She got taken to the hospital wing soon after that. Madam Pomfrey watching over her as she slept and taking note of every whimper that came out of her mouth and every tremble that came over her body.

      Something wasn't right with Mara Prescott and everyone was finally taking notice.

      It didn't help that the one person at school who knew the slightest thing about Mara's hallucinations wasn't currently speaking to her and hadn't spoken more than a "Bloody hell, are you alright?" to her since second year and she was forced to live through half of the worst school year alone, bitter, and despondent. Her mind wasn't what it used to be and now it was filled with images of a young Tom Riddle doing everything he could to make her go insane.

      When Christmas came and went, Mara found herself again in the hospital wing. Only this time, she had seen Him. It happened during passing period; she had been walking to Defense when out of the corner of her eye, a very familiar man appeared. She wasn't an idiot, she knew who it was. She had been seeing him since second year, but it had never been like this. She tried to ignore him; tried forgetting that he was there, watching as she set her mind on going to Defense. She would not have a breakdown. Not today.

       _Not today_ , she thought.  _You hear that mind? Not today._

      It happened as she walked down the stairs to Moody's classroom, two at a time as she was already running late. Theodore was walking close behind her, talking about how Daphne and Tracey had gone down early to save seats for them when she heard it. It was soft at first, but as she got closer and closer to Moody's classroom, it got louder and louder.

      A soft hissing sound that soon turned into cruel, mocking laughter and it stopped her dead in her tracks. Theodore quickly moved in front of her, his hand reaching out to steady her as she began trembling. His mouth uttered her name as a question, but all Mara could do was turn her head slowly and watch as Tom slowly morphed into someone else. He wasn't Tom anymore; this man was much taller, his skin egg white and his eyes were not the same warm brown as before.

      They were red.

      "V―Voldemort."

      And she began running. Theo ran after her, shouting after her, but she couldn't think clearly. All she knew was that Voldemort was right behind her with his wand raised and she wasn't safe ― She wasn't safe. She wasn't safe. She wasn't safe.

       **"STAY AWAY FROM ME. STAY AWAY, PLEASE. NOT ME. I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING. PLEASE!"**

      Theodore finally managed to get his arms around Mara's waist, trying to get her to stop squirming, but her eyes were still locked on the figure in front of her. Voldemort's wand was now high up, his mouth forming the words she wouldn't be surprised to hear.

**"AVADA KE―"**

**"MR. NOTT, WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?"**

      Professor McGonagall had shown up, having had students run into her classroom, screaming about how Mara Prescott was having another fit and it seemed like Moody was close behind with Harry, Ron, and Hermione in tow. Theodore hesitated to speak; he, himself, wasn't even sure what the hell was going on. As he sighed and got ready to speak, Mara interrupted him as a shrill scream left her mouth.

**"IT'S VOLDEMORT. HE'S TRYING TO KILL ME. PLEASE HELP ME. TH― THEO, PLEASE. PLEASE."**

      McGonagall's face had gone pale and with Theo's help, they had managed to get Mara off the floor and standing. McGonagall quietly instructed Theo to accompany Mara to the infirmary, stating she would be there with Professor Dumbledore and Mara's head of house as soon as possible. She stood there and watched as Theodore struggled with Mara before she sighed and turned, imploring Moody to take care of the crowd that had surrounded them as she ran off to find Dumbledore.

      Mara, who was still shrieking and squirming in Theo's hold, turned her head to stare at those behind them, screaming at them to help her. And as she did so, she managed to catch Moody's eye.

      And he smirked.

      Mara woke later that night to find someone she hadn't spoken to in a long time sitting at the foot of her bed. Even as her body cried with pain, she pushed her hair behind her ear and managed a smile. "Took you long enough," she whispered.

      Ron Weasley's face became red with embarrassment. "Shut up," he whispered back.

      Even as Mara rekindled her friendship with Ron Weasley little by little, she would come to realize that the hallucinations would not go away. The hallucinations did not care if they hurt Mara both physically and mentally ―they did not care if they hurt Mara to the point where she just wanted it to stop and wanted everything to be over. They did not care if Mara would come to feel guilty as she sat in the Quidditch Pitch watching as Amos Diggory cried over his son's dead body, thinking she could have stopped it from happening if she had just told someone.

      They did not care if Mara Prescott was now scared of living as she heard Harry Potter utter the very words Mara had said only a few months prior.

      The hallucinations were there to stay and because of that, Mara Prescott would burn. 

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone is interested in seeing the playlist for this fic, check out my Wattpad @pIeides and look for Gold Dust on there! But I will also add a link in the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed!


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